As part of the precautionary measures against the third wave of Covid-19, the Visakhapatnam district administration has proposed the setting up of 14 oxygen plants in the coming months. These attempts by the district will help mitigate the risk of oxygen shortage that was witnessed in several parts of the country during the second wave. With such prudent and diligent steps, the district officials will keep at bay the abnormal rise in the demand for oxygen in the district.
The oxygen plant proposal has already received a nod from the Central Government. Reportedly, 3 oxygen plants have cleared the required permissions and the rest 11 will follow suit soon. Among the first phase of the plants to be set up, a 2.5-ton capacity oxygen plant has been completed at the King George Hospital (KGH) in Visakhapatnam. The remaining two plants for which work will start in two weeks have been allotted sites at the ID hospital in Pedda Waltair and Araku hospital.
The district officials have chalked out plans for setting up the remaining 11 oxygen plants too. Of the 11, three have been proposed to be set up at Paderu, Anakapalle, and Narsipatnam. These plants are said to have a capacity of 1 to 2 tonnes and are planned to be set up in different areas of government hospitals covering the whole Visakhapatnam district.
It could be noted that in the past, with an abnormal rise in the demand for oxygen, 42 oxygen plants and oxygen storage plants were set up in and around Andhra Pradesh with the help of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). During these pressing times of the first and the second wave, Andhra Pradesh has been receiving oxygen supply from RINL in Vizag which has also been supplying oxygen to Karnataka and Chennai. With each state preparing itself to be self-sufficient for the third wave, best attempts are being put forth to meet any worst-case scenarios. With the phased development at hand and fast-paced infrastructure development of the oxygen plants, the district is bound to bridge the medical infrastructure gap that was witnessed in the past two waves.
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